Shrimp lover Posted September 13, 2015 Report Share Posted September 13, 2015 Hi everyone, I want to maybe start a crystal red or tb tank but I don't really know where to start! I know you have to use RO water with a remineralizer, but I'm not at all familiar with all that! Could anyone kinda break it down for me? Like where to get good RO water and which reineralizer? Also, what is the best tank size to start? Im debating between a 10 gallon or 20 long! Thanks everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jadenlea Posted September 13, 2015 Report Share Posted September 13, 2015 20 long will help keep your parameters more stable but 10 gallon gives you more room for more tanks. LOL I happened to be browsing shrimp videos on utube last night and DETAquariums who is a member here had a great 3 part series on setting up a tank caradina and neo both. They are all short videos and I found them interesting. I just tried to find it for you and am having trouble finding part 1 but maybe someone will see this and link it for you. If I had more time Id search more but I need to get out the door in a few. If you can find part one then part 2 and 3 load automatically as soon as the previous one finishes. As for RO water, before I got my own machine, I was buying Distilled water at Marketbasket (88 cents per gallon) then my local Petco got an RO machine for .50 per gallon. You can ask at your local fish stores...most will sell RO water and I have also heard that some Walmarts sell it. There are a ton of remineralizers. Honestly, I think they are pretty much the same . I think the last discussion I saw said MK Blue diamond right now gets the most for your money but you could search the forum for remin discussions for more info if no one else chimes in with a better answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaykidding Posted September 13, 2015 Report Share Posted September 13, 2015 Don't start a tb do a crs. But since your shrimp are dying try to solve the problem then invest in harder shrimp. Make sure you can save the 50 shrimp let the colony stabilize then start looking into the caridinia tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimp lover Posted September 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2015 20 long will help keep your parameters more stable but 10 gallon gives you more room for more tanks. LOL I happened to be browsing shrimp videos on utube last night and DETAquariums who is a member here had a great 3 part series on setting up a tank caradina and neo both. They are all short videos and I found them interesting. I just tried to find it for you and am having trouble finding part 1 but maybe someone will see this and link it for you. If I had more time Id search more but I need to get out the door in a few. If you can find part one then part 2 and 3 load automatically as soon as the previous one finishes. As for RO water, before I got my own machine, I was buying Distilled water at Marketbasket (88 cents per gallon) then my local Petco got an RO machine for .50 per gallon. You can ask at your local fish stores...most will sell RO water and I have also heard that some Walmarts sell it. There are a ton of remineralizers. Honestly, I think they are pretty much the same . I think the last discussion I saw said MK Blue diamond right now gets the most for your money but you could search the forum for remin discussions for more info if no one else chimes in with a better answer. Thank you so much!! I will try to find those videos now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DETAquarium Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 I have a link in my signature to my YouTube channel. Once you find my page on YouTube go to the Educational section, I have a 5 part series on How to Keep and Breed Shrimp, and before long will be releasing a How to Keep and Breed Taiwan Bees. I will throw in a few comments on your question though. Ultimately I would start with Neocaridina species if this is your first time keeping shrimp, else a CRS/CBS or even Tiger Caridina would be a great second. People use RO or RODI water to start with a basis to work from, makes it much easier to adjust water parameters as you see fit when your water is "plain". Remineralizer is what you use to adjust your RODI water to the parameters you want closest to the shrimp specifications. You can either buy the water from a retail store, or just buy the RODI system itself. Once you have this unit or the water you will then need a remineralizer to adjust the water parameters. It would be quite helpful to pickup a GH/KH Test Kit, and a TDS Pen. If these terms seem from left field somewhere you definitely need to research on what they mean and how they affect water chemistry. Once you have the water where you see fit and to your shrimp's specifications you will then need to start cycling an aquarium. I use all 17.1g aquariums currently, but I wouldn't suggest anything lower than a 10g aquarium. Hope this is a start for you. Keep asking questions we are here to help. DETAquarium Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimp lover Posted September 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 I have a link in my signature to my YouTube channel. Once you find my page on YouTube go to the Educational section, I have a 5 part series on How to Keep and Breed Shrimp, and before long will be releasing a How to Keep and Breed Taiwan Bees. I will throw in a few comments on your question though. Ultimately I would start with Neocaridina species if this is your first time keeping shrimp, else a CRS/CBS or even Tiger Caridina would be a great second. People use RO or RODI water to start with a basis to work from, makes it much easier to adjust water parameters as you see fit when your water is "plain". Remineralizer is what you use to adjust your RODI water to the parameters you want closest to the shrimp specifications. You can either buy the water from a retail store, or just buy the RODI system itself. Once you have this unit or the water you will then need a remineralizer to adjust the water parameters. It would be quite helpful to pickup a GH/KH Test Kit, and a TDS Pen. If these terms seem from left field somewhere you definitely need to research on what they mean and how they affect water chemistry. Once you have the water where you see fit and to your shrimp's specifications you will then need to start cycling an aquarium. I use all 17.1g aquariums currently, but I wouldn't suggest anything lower than a 10g aquarium. Hope this is a start for you. Keep asking questions we are here to help. DETAquarium Thank you so much! I just watched all of your videos and they were super helpful! I think I am going to do a 20 long crystal red and black tank! (also, I already have a 20 gallon neo tank) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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